Cricket fans turned up in droves for the Women’s Big Bash League at the MCG yesterday and TV viewers watched the Stars-Renegades clash in record numbers on network television.
Photograph: Darrian Traynor/Getty Images

The success of the Big Bash League (BBL) has transferred to women’s cricket, with the WBBL Australian television viewership peaking at above 400,000 on Saturday. In the competition’s debut on Network Ten’s main channel, a record average of 372,000 viewers tuned in, reaching a high of 439,000, to see the Melbourne Renegades’ thrilling final-over victory against cross-town rivals the Stars at the MCG.

Record Big Bash League crowd turns out as Stars defeat Renegades

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The figure is the highest-ever for a women’s domestic match, easily topping the 250,000 who watched the Brisbane Heat defeat the Adelaide Strikers in December on Ten’s secondary channel, One HD, and dwarfs current A-League viewership figures on subscription service Fox Sports, whose figures rarely exceed 70,000 per game.

Almost 13,000 fans were also inside the MCG by the end of yesterday’s women’s match, before more than 80,000 saw the two Melbourne men’s teams clash. In comparison, the 50-over men’s one-day competition attracted an average national audience of 96,000 this summer, while the A-League is averaging 78,000 viewers on SBS2 and 62,000 on Fox Sports.

Meanwhile, Test cricket isn’t ready to make way for the juggernaut that is the Big Bash League just yet, with a healthy crowd of 30,000 making its way through the turnstiles on the first day of the SCG Test on Sunday. The crowd exceeds the 29,104 fans that filed into the iconic venue for Sydney Stars BBL match against Melbourne Stars on December 27 and the sellout 21,500 crowd posted a night later as Sydney Thunder hosted Adelaide Strikers at Spotless Stadium.

SCG officials told reporters that 30,000 fans had entered the ground by the luncheon interval. The last time West Indies played a Test in 2001, 40,880 fans attended the first day. Last summer the first day of the SCG Test against India attracted 30,161 fans, the year before against England a figure of 45,352 was posted.